Looking forward, it’ll be late October before we see teams No. 1 and 2 in the new rankings meet… and we expect both sides will remain at or near the top of the table.

Let’s stop yammering, and start ranking. As is the case with MLS, we won’t do these every week in order to limit overreactions from a single result.

RANKING

Up/Down

1

–

Manchester City: The Citizens stay atop the charts despite their loss to West Ham United, due mostly to their spate of injuries on the back end. Perhaps West Ham doesn’t find its advantage without City playing midweek in the Champions League and Kompany, Clichy and Zabaleta available.

Arsenal: Cheated pretty harshly in the Chelsea defeat, and still nearly found a point out of it. Yeah, Gabriel Paulista needs to be smarter and Arsene Wenger should’ve bought a striker, but the Gunners are okay (though Wenger’s criticism of the Martial deal could start to look silly. Who has the Monaco connection again?). By the way, Gabriel is really good, too.

5

UP 12

West Ham United: Big Sam Allardyce seems to disagree, but Slaven Bilic’s side is thriving despite the absence of Enner Valencia and the health struggles of Andy Carroll. If they can get to January in good enough shape to viably add to their back line? Look out.

6

UP 2

Everton: A horrific slate of fixtures to start the season has been well-navigated, but isn’t over. After brief relief with West Brom, the Toffees get Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal.

7

DOWN 2

Swansea City: If Garry Monk‘s side can stop playing down to its opponents on occasion, it can live up to its Top Six aims. Must make sure the Watford loss is the exception, not the rule.

8

UP 4

Tottenham Hotspur: After a tough bunch of matches to start the year, Spurs have won a pair and are unbeaten in five. Good to see Son get a hot start, and give Harry Kane some help.

9

–

Crystal Palace: Back-to-back losses to Spurs and Man City show “Pardiola” has a ways to go, but there’s no doubting they are carrying over the mid-table form from the second half of last season.

10

UP 4

Watford: Quique Flores’ club rarely looks rattled. Back-to-back wins come after their sole loss this season, which was to mighty Man City.

Southampton: Having a maddening time keeping up with their congested schedule, but we have a hard time dropping Saints too low at this point.

13

DOWN 3

Stoke City: Yes, they have just three points, but their run deals with a difficult bunch of opponents and some bizarre obstacles — like nearly snatching a draw from a 9-man battle against 11-man West Brom — and leaves us far from a freak-out.

14

UP 1

Norwich City: The Liverpool draw gives the Canaries hope, but it’s not like the Reds are flying right now. Carrow Road can feel better about its chances with a win over someone not named Bournemouth or Sunderland.

15

UP 1

Bournemouth: Seven points from 10 matches have the Cherries feeling better than their season’s open. Can they string together more points and move up?

16

UP 3

West Bromwich Albion: Nice to see Saido Berahino producing, but their three-match unbeaten streak feels a bit wonky. Let’s see some more points before we move the Baggies any higher.

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A person who directed racist taunts at Portland Thorns’ goalkeeper Adrianna Franch has been banned from attending National Women’s Soccer League games.

A fan at the Sept. 6 game between the Thorns and Utah Royals in Salt Lake City first called attention to the unidentified person on Twitter. The tweet was later deleted, but both the Thorns and Royals, as well as the league, investigated the incident.

The NWSL issued a statement Saturday saying the person was identified. In addition to being banned from NWSL matches, the person – who was not identified publicly by the league – was also banned from attending events at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“NWSL will not tolerate inappropriate fan behavior,” the league’s statement said. “Racism has no place in our sport.”

The Royals also offered “thanks in no small part to assistance from fans seated in the vicinity,” for identifying the offending party.

A few days after the incident, Franch posted a statement to Twitter: “The situation surrounding our game Friday night is not a NEW issue, nor is it a first for me. RACISM is NOT okay in any form!! We as a HUMAN RACE can be better and should be better. We as a SPORT can help show the way.”

Franch was on the roster of the U.S. national team that won the Women’s World Cup this summer in France.

Dominating possession and taking a healthy amount of shots, it seemed like the San Jose Earthquakes were going to pull off a Matias Almeyda-era victory in New York City on Saturday.

But in just the span of three minutes, NYCFC changed the landscape of the game completely, scoring twice right before halftime. Keaton Parks recorded his first league goal in the 40th minute. In the 43rd, the Eastern Conference leaders put together this (yes, the covered half the field just like that):

Like in the sequences that led to the home side’s goals, the Quakes’ confidence to overtake the scoreline took a hit, failing to finish a number of chances following attack-heavy substitutions in the second half. As a result, San Jose, who are fighting for a playoff spot, dropped their fourth straight game on the road.

Speaking with media after their 2-1 loss, Almeyda – despite praising NYCFC as being one of the league’s best – took shots at Yankee Stadium’s field size. Should the league care? Absolutely. NYCFC? Not at all, just look at their record.

The league’s youngest team ended up with 10-men late in the game. Kendall Watson was shown a straight red card, but Ron Jans earned his first three points at the helm. Early in the game, Allan Cruz’s goal foreshadowed what was to come for the Ohioan side following the final whistle: a celebration.

The Impact (37 points) remain three points behind New England, while Cincinnati (21 points) look to finish strong in order to avoid the ugly side of the history books.

Carlos Vela rejoins LAFC, scores

There’s no way around it: LAFC is a completely different team with (or without) Carlos Vela, who can’t stop scoring.

The Mexican recorded his 28th goal of the season (six behind Jose Martinez’s single-season record) in the Supporter Shield favorite’s 1-1 draw in Philadelphia. It wasn’t a Vela-esque sequence at all, but it was enough to change the score.

All square at the half thanks to @11carlosV's 28th goal of the season!

The Union, who played without Marco Fabian because of his absence in the team’s meeting on Friday, opened the scoring. Three minutes in, Kacper Przybyłko’s floating header surprised Tyler Miller, giving the home side a perfect start in front of a noisy Talen Energy Stadium.

Just a couple of months ago, these were the two best teams in the league. LAFC remain atop of the Western Conference. The Union, however, are now five points behind NYCFC.

Crew trounce Atlanta United 3-1 despite Josef Martinez’ goal

Caleb Porter’s Columbus Crew, arguably, play the most effective soccer out of all the teams that are on the outside looking in when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs this season.

On Saturday, despite being statistically outdone by Atlanta United, the Crew managed to execute their chances, scoring three goals on only four shots on target. Gyasi Zardes, a pivotal piece of their attack, scored his 12th goal of the season. Costa Rican Luis Diaz added one of his own in the second half, before Miles Robinson’s own-goal 25 minutes later sealed three points for Columbus.

After three games, Antonio Conte‘s spell at Inter Milan remains in immaculate shape.

According to the table, there is no better team than I Nerazzurri, who have won their first three league matches – notching seven goals and conceding only one along the way. In other words, the Italian’s astute coaching style remains effective.

Despite, Inter’s convincing play throughout the 90 minutes, only a goal would separate them from visiting Udinese, who played a with 10 players from the 35th minute on, following Rodrigo De Pual’s slap to the back of Antonio Candreva’s head.

In the 44th minute, Stefano Sensi – one of the smallest players on the field – headed the ball into the back of the net. Late in the game, Alexis Sanchez nearly scored in his Inter debut.

In the end, Udinese were no match for Antonio Conte and Co., who find themselves in prime form heading into their Champions League return midweek.

Up next for Inter in league play: Derby della Madonnina. Udinese, on the hand, host Brescia.

Napoli 2-0 Sampdoria

Dries Mertens is the gift that keeps on giving for Napoli.

To be exact, the Belgian gifted his team two goals on Saturday. 13 minutes in, following a perfectly-placed cross from Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Mertens’ first-time strike was unstoppable for Emil Audero.

Emiliano Rigoni had Sampdoria’s best chance of the night in a one-on-one opportunity with Alex Meret. The Argentine, however, wasted one of the visiting side’s two chances all night.

Then in the 67th minute – with some luck on his corner -Mertens completed his brace off a deflected shot, giving his team their second win of the season.

Quick turnaround for Napoli as they host Liverpool midweek before traveling to take on Lecce in league play, while Sampdoria take on Torino next.